1. Why You Arent Where You Want To BeBy Joseph Ratliff http://josephratliff.com/blog

2. Were not going to screw around here.No fancy intros, no get to know me, no sales pitches, and no fancy graphics either.Just raw, unadulterated content that should answer the statement posed in the title of this document(and starting with the blog post of the same name).Look, for years Ive run into people who own businesses (and some who havent) that seem to let theuncontrollable control them. Let that sink in for a second, how many times have you let theuncontrollable control a part of your business or life?The economy is bad, yeah, I get itcan you change it yourself? No? Ahhhthen why dwell on the factthat its bad? Wal-Mart just moved in across the street? Well, can you compete with them on price?No? Then why price yourself out of business? Why not alter your business to adapt instead?Folks, its time to man up.I dont have all the answers, in fact this document youre reading doesnt either, but I do hope youllread it, and do something with it. Hell, if you dont do something with it, give it to someone who will.No more excuses, your business rises and sets with one personyou. Period, end of story.A short collection of articles from my blog centered around the topic of altering your mindset starts onthe next pageenjoy. 3. Why You Are Not Where You Want To BeTheres only one real reason, but Im going to provide a few examples.I will let you know that I dont write this from a position above you at allI have made thousands upon thousands of mistakes in my time marketing and developing my ownbusinessits from that position I write this to you.Oklets get to a few reasons why youre not where you want to be right nowEvery successful business was started and developed by a personality of some sort. In fact, yourbusiness was started by that same person.And that person is also the reason that you arent where you want to be in business.That person is you. Thats right, youre the only reason you arent where you want to be right now.Heres the real kickeryou actually make up most of the reasons that you are not where you want tobe internally!Its true, whether you choose to believe it or not.Whether you think you can or cant, youre right.Henry FordAn example?Youre working on project A.Its a very productive project, whatever it isbut it has some parts that you dont like to do. Instead ofoutsourcing those parts (you make excuses to yourself as to why you cant like budget and such)youdrudge into doing those parts of project A that you dont like.But, with only two parts of project A left to goyou stopoverwhelmed by the sensation thatsomething in that email box must be important enough to distract you, if just for a moment.Then that moment transforms into something biggeras the phone rings, and you figure youll justanswer it just this once for todaybecause you know you want to finish project A.I mean, you only have two more parts to go, right?Then another email arrivesThen, just one more phone call to takeAll the while, project A seems to be slipping from your grasp.Then, stuff to do has developed from the several emails and phone calls youre taking just thisonceand project A almost becomes history.Then the plot thickens, another proven money maker enters your mindand takes over.Project A has now become a thing of the pastand so close to completion. Who is at fault for this bigmess?Gut check time, or as I repeat on my blog, time to look in the mirror. 4. Who do you usually blame when you get pulled off of a major project so near completion? One of thepeople that emailed you? A group of the phone callers?The phone calls and emails themselves?Really, thats all B.S., and you know itdont you?Come on nowadmit it to yourself. Youre the only one who really has control over your timeImeanyou do have control of your time right?But thats not the real, deep down reason why you didnt finish project A is it?Be honest with yourself herethe failure or success of your business this year and next rides on howtruly honest you are with yourself here. If ego gets in the way, youll failif you like to place blamegamesyoull fail, guaranteed.The real reason you didnt finish project A was FEAR. Your FEAR. Period.As human beingswe tend to gravitate towards the path of least resistance. Its a proven fact. We like tolook for shortcuts; we like to do the least work possible to gain the most results, etc etcIf you dispute that about yourself, stop reading this post right now, I dont want you to waste yourtime on the serious education coming up. Besides, you have magic bullets to keep searchingforright?OnwardSo, since humans tend to seek the path of least resistance, that would mean if we encounter resistance,we seek relief from that resistance right?Go ahead and let your logic kick in hereits ok.Fear is that resistance manifesting itself; its your bodys way of preparing you for the work or situationto come.You had a decision to make when working on project A above.(By the way, we have ALL had a project A in our business careers, so dont use the excuse that thisdoesnt apply to you)You could have decided that NOTHING would distract you from completing it.(And you know as well as I do we have enough potential distractions these days, right?)In this particular example, you decided to just allow that phone call/email to distract you for only amoment.That was FEAR doing its dirty work.You might be asking yourself What the heck would I be afraid of? I mean, I was so close to finishingproject Aand so close to making moneywhy would I be afraid to finish it?Well use an e-book as an exampleLets say the last two parts of project A were the last chapterthen the final edit of the e-book, beforeputting it out there for sale. I am assuming for this example that the sales letter is done, and all of themarketing is in place (except for initial testing of course). 5. In this caseyour FEAR would possibly be stemming from putting it out there, and facing possiblescrutiny of your workor the possibility of your marketing starting out as a complete failure in initialtesting.Heres the bottom line about FEAR-> The successful business-builders get over it and embrace FEARthe failing business builders dont get over itand instead let FEAR destroy their business.Sit down right now, remove all distractions right now, and really let that statement sink in right now.Think about how it has already impacted your business up to this point, then think about how it willimpact your business in the futurethink about it all.Ill wait.You havent done it yetno way.Come on, I am not going to cover any more until you actually do this.Did you really sit down and let it sink in yet? Did you really absorb the power of that statement as itapplies to your business-building?If you actually didcongratulations, you probably will be part of the first embracing group andhopefully after reading this post, you will be even more successful.If you didntstop reading right nowthis was the most simple of exercises, I didnt ask you to do too much (didI?)but yet you let something get in the way of actually doing something that could make you millionsof dollars (literally).I dont care what it was that got in the way, it really doesnt matteryou simply need to work onwhatever that is first before you attempt to build businesses (it could have been ego, thinking youknew that already, etc).If you didnt stop and think about the statement above and its implication on your businessyou haveanother chance, because I am not right there hovering over your shoulder.So get to it. The future of your business depends on it. 6. OneOne is a powerful word. Especially for todays lesson.One of the main reasons people fail to make money using the internet is due to a lack of focus whengetting started (and sometimes when they continue after getting momentum).When getting startedYou only need one reason.(for me it was helping to grow businesses and seeing the reaction on business owners faces once theyachieved true freedom)You need one skill.(in the beginning, for me it was copywriting and a little bit of marketingnow its much more of a role asan online business-results coach and copywriting)You need one niche to explore.(for me, business owners that wanted to use the Internet to generate 1 100% of their revenue)You need one method of monetization.(sell my skills and knowledge to that niche)So you can earn one dollar.(did that in 2001)Once you do that, you repeat and duplicate until you are making considerable income from onebusiness. But you have to earn that first dollar firstbefore even thinking about the thousands ormillions youll make.FindOne andCapitalize on itUntil youreSuccessfulThats the one key that opens the front door to success, and if youve already started gainingmomentumthe one key you must return to when you feel like things arent going as planned with youronline business.It really is that simple folks. But not easyas its extremely likely that youll be faced with 1000 s ofdistractions and seemingly better opportunities along the way.Forget them.If the other opportunities were so much better than what you are / want to working on nowyouwouldnt have them being marketed to youyou would have to go and find them. People dont sharethe real secrets for $47 in an ebookperiod.So now, the choice is yoursAre you going to F.O.C.U.S. and get real about your businessor get a jobslaving away for someone else and line their pockets? 7. Are You Preparing For Success, Or Just Preparing?Joe, Ive gotta do this, this, and this first before I can do what you recommended to make obsceneprofits.Love the excusesbut this one is a business killer.Please allow me to explainSometimes, it seems as though people want to stay stuck in preparing mode because its morecomfortable and less uncertain.Instead, if you find yourself preparing everything to succeed sometimetry thisJust do the thing you think youre preparing for.More often than not, all the preparation you think you had to do isnt necessarybecause as humans wetry to eliminate all possibilities for failure (preconceived or otherwise).Now Im not saying a certain measure of preparation isnt necessary at all, for example, certain legalpreparations are a good idea (discuss those with an attorney, Im not one, and thats NOT legal advice).What I am saying is if it seems youre stuck preparing, and keep coming up with this and that whichyou feel you have to do before you move forwardyou should examine whether or not youre reallyneeding more preparationor just to kick yourself in the ass and get outside of your comfort zone.Most of the time, youll probably find youre just trying to stay comfortableand stayingcomfortable isnt how fortunes and freedom are created.Get outside your comfort zone right nowand stay out! 8. AdversityAhhh yes, one of my hot buttons with my mastermind clients and private clients is how theyhandle adversity.Dont discount how critically important this concept is to your success as an affiliate manager, affiliate,or just as a person.Adversity manifests itself in many forms, the most common of which is when someone tells you:You cant do that or Dont do it that way, or a variation of either one of these.Personally, when anyone tells me any variation of the aboveI just laugh.After a good, hearty laughI say the 2 magic words that start the mental process that can alsodifferentiate you from those that are unsuccessfulWatch me.There are numerous examples of successful people whove gone against the grain and done thingsthat were once seemingly impossible (Bannister in the 4 minute mile, John Reese having the million-dollar day in IM, etcetc).The how they did that stuff is available all over the place; this post is about the mindset you set inmotion by confidently stating watch me.Your brain clicks inside when you dont acknowledge the limitations that those people who dontunderstand fully what youre setting out to accomplish are placing on you.Wise advice has been passed down that states you cant choose what happens to you, but you canchoose how you react to it, and that applies here as well.You can accept the status quo mentality, or you can do what 90% of people wont do and prove thatmentality wrong.The choice is yours.Bottom line here isyou will encounter adversity as you continue your journey in building your affiliatebusinesses, that I can guarantee you (if you dont, you arent really playing the game, youre dabbling).Some examples:You cant write Google ads that wayYou need to write your articles less than 800 wordsYou cant do affiliate marketing online and offline(real example from someone who once told me that wouldnt work)Social media marketing doesnt workThere are more examples that you would encounter, or perhaps have already; if you have a story toshareI would like to hear it via email to joe@josephratliff.com .Have a great 2011 my friends. 9. If You Dont Get Dirty, You Havent Played The Game Hard EnoughThe game of marketing, business, whatever you want to call it.By some standards, I havent played long enough yet to create a Fortune 500 company or anything(actually, I dont want to create a Fortune 5oo yet).But I guarantee youI have played hard enough.But this isnt about meits about youmy valued readerIts almost as if people are afraid to market their businessesstick themselves out there as it were.Are you that ashamed of your business that you dont want to put it ALL out on the field of business?To succeed in business, you have to be the one that guides your business to success.No one else will do it for you. In fact, they will (in most cases) try to work against your success.But heres the million dollar questionHave you, in whatever format; put your message and product or service in front of enough people? Areyou effective enough?If so, you will have pissed some people off. You will have generated loyal followers. You will havepeople who just dont care.If you dont have all 3 of the above, you arent playing the game hard enough. Its absolutely impossibleto please everyone, to be all things to all people in your marketso unless you get all 3 reactions to yourbusiness as stated aboveYou havent reached enough people with your message yetperiod.So go out there, get aggressive with your marketing (the right way, not just noisier). Reachdeep within your market and uncover all of the feelings that are buried in that market.Dont stop until you have accomplished thisand got dirty.Then, and only then, have you played this marketing game hard enough. 10. Why You Dont Have To Worry Much If You Want To Start A Business OnlineIts sadbut also good at the same time (for you)If youve been thinking about starting a business, now is the time to do it in my opinion.Why?Because most of your competition is placing themselves at a total disadvantage.From what Ive seen in continually analyzing marketing processes, customer helpdesks (more likehelp-less desks), and overall practices in online business in a general sense, you could have a distinctadvantage if you just meet some rather simple criteria: You actually deliver on ALL of your promises. Not just some of them, not the biggest onesbut allpromises made in your sales letters and marketing. You or a member of your staff reply to helpdesk inquiries (or any customer service inquiry), good orbad, with a solution or simple thanks. If you are going to fail to deliver (on anything), you let your customers know why, and what youll do tomake things right. Have your entire product that you promise to deliver in your marketing material ready todeliver before you start marketing. Some test markets before they have a product ready to go toensure sales success, Im here to tell you there are other ways to test a market that are just aseffectivethe added bonus being you wont fail to deliver. Prepare enough of your product to deliver to paying customers with special offers. A particularInternet Marketing print newsletter company once went through HUGE losses of time and energy (andprofits) because they didnt have enough to meet the need. Check your vendors out thoroughly to ensure they can deliver. The same particular Internet Marketingprint newsletter company didnt check out their delivery house thoroughly enoughand pissed offcountless loyal customers with delivery issues. The least expensive option isnt always the best optionfolks. Communication overall is VERY important, quit trying to hide. Instead of avoiding customercomplaints, either refund and fire problem customers or address legitimate concerns head onover-delivering in your solution and quit delivering the cheapskate impression (i.e. give a special bonus,discount, etcas part of your solution). Make it easy for your customer to buy from you. Holy crap, this is a BIG onequit trying to lock downyour Internet business like Fort Knox. 98% of all people are honest, period. Quit acting like its the otherway aroundand make it easy for your customers to give you friggin money. If youre guilty of this, youknow who you are.And on, and onIf you allow your mind to expand on these ideas, and begin to think of ways to actually deliver value andhelp people, your profits will thank you (mine do).It really does workand no one ever said you had to do business so efficiently that somearbitrary acceptable percentage of customers had to suffer. And if you dont believe business isconducted that way (especially online, where its easy to hide)you need to take a look behind thescenes of businesses the way I have for only 90 days to discover this for yourself.Its sad, really sad, that you can grow a business just by paying attention to your customers, andactually delivering on ALL of your promisesall of the time. 11. Does Proper Communication Even Matter Any More In Business?When a client enlists your services, buys your product, etcits sometimes easy to forget how importantyour product or service is to the life or business of your client.One of my recent clients was concerned that the potential web designers she was considering for aproject werent returning her communication at all. Even if the designers are too busy to take onadditional work, shouldnt they communicate that to their potential clients instead of notcommunicating at all?Weird. I would think proper communication (both ways, not just one way) would be a normal mode ofbusiness online. Guess it isnt.She went on to hire a web graphics personagreed to terms, communicated well all the way to the endof the projectand POOF!Nothing.No communication whatsoever. No final delivery of the product either.This web design fits in the business plan of my clientand needed to be finished to move on with thatplan. No communication of any type from the designer.HmmmSo the lesson here is thisI guess you could literally create a U.S.P. (Unique Selling Proposition) out ofsimply maintaining real, prompt, and courteous communication with your clientsas sad as that is.Sad.Communicate with your customer base people. 12. 18 Mistakes That Will Kill Your Online BusinessIf any one of these 18 mistakes resonates with you, avoid them or suffer the consequences.1. I can do this for free. You cannot build a business online for free. Get over it.2. Build it, and they will come. You cannot just put a website up, and expect to start raking in theprofits.3. Decorate it, Trick it out, not for websitesthis might work for brick and mortar stores, but onlineyou have to keep it to reasonable level.4. Lacking a Unique Selling Proposition. You need to generate a real presence onlineand you have tobe unique.5. I dont have to work hard to succeed online. Pfui. Sometimes harder.6. Earn money in your sleep, 24/7/365, etc Yes, you can, but your business requires attention.7. I already know what to do, I dont need a game plan, plans are for newbies. You might as wellcount yourself out now, turn in the keys and go home.8. Not getting to the point. People have so many other distractions nowadays, you dont have time togo into theory, just get to the point.9. Writing for the offline audience is the same as writing for the online audience. Wrong answer, thankyou for playing the game.10. Failing to remember you are dealing with people online. It is so easy to do online, and theimpersonal nature of the media can help you lose business as fast as you can gain it.11. Stopping at the first sale with a customer. Big error, this is only your first contact with a person whosaid I trust youwhat are you going to do next?12. Give them more reasons to show up again and again. It doesnt stop at the first visit, what are yougoing to do to keep em coming back?13. Having a terrible follow up system. Are you following up with someone who gave their emailaddress and name to you by sending endless offers?14. I have 10 million hits and no saleshow is that possible? Traffic isnt the key, targeted (quality)traffic is.15. Dont make them think. Getting your visitors the information they are seeking as quickly and easilyas possible should be a primary objective.16. Lack of focus on your business. There is more ways to make money on the internet than you couldwrite a book onbut you need to pick one and focus on it until it develops profits consistently.17. Failing to re-invest in your online business. You always need to focus a certain percentage ofrevenue back into the business.18. Failing to properly track and monitor your online business. It is so easy to do this online, yet manydont even try.Well, there they are, 18 of the most critical mistakes you can make that will kill your online business. 13. Are You Lying To Your Potential Customers?If youre doing this, stop it nowIts no secret that I subscribe to many internet marketing make money online newsletters to observemarketing processes (and selling processes).But something really got under my skin this morning when receiving yet another email with anotherproduct launch (when do marketers quit chasing money and stop launching product after product?)I read a sales letter.Got exposed to yet another re-hashed PLR business in a box opportunity (yawn).But thats not the worst part.I was done reading the sales letter for another $47 wonderful dreams promised opportunity when theWORST FREAKIN thing you can do to your prospects happenedThis marketer (who shall remain nameless) lied to me as a prospect!This $47 price tag had a hidden discount offered on an exit-offer when I tried to leave the page!No change in the offer mind you, just a lower price to $37. So, what this marketer was telling me that ifI would have bought at $47I would have paid $10 more for EXACTLY THE SAME FRIGGIN STUFF!Are you kidding me? Really, why not just offer your offer for $37 in the first place? I had to try andleave just to get a discount? Maybe I should reveal this marketers namebecause theyve done thisbefore several times (along with a host of other so-called marketers).Obviously, this is geared to unsuspecting people who have never seen this type of offer beforebutcome on, any person HAS to be irritated if they leave the page and get presented with a discount right? I guess not.So heres a lesson for this marketer (or any marketer thats doing this)If you want to use an exit offer, change the offer a little at least (make it an obvious change though). Really simple right? If you offer a lower price, also offer less stuff. Or you can offer different stufforyou can offer a free sample that markets the original offer againorororIf youre running these types of exit offers the wrong way, quit being a complete dork and insultingyour potential customers intelligence. People arent idiots. 14. The Death Of Its Just BusinessThere is a dangerous moniker floating aroundIts just business.Youve used it, Ive used it, but as of today, Im going to quit using it.Why?Because I want my business to actually mean something to people. I dont want to be thought of orremembered as a good __________ .Instead, I want my clients (whom I take on very selectively) to know that I really do, deep down, careabout their business. Its my business to care about them and their businessperiod.Do you care about each and every one of the top clients you serve with this much passion? Or is it justbusiness for them?Folks, we are entering a new age of business here (yes old-schoolers, that means you too) an agewhere your business doesnt matter to the customer anymore.That is, until you make it matter.Making it matter to your customer means doing things that your competitors wont do, or cant do,for themand doing lots of those things.One of the many ways I accomplish this, is I tend to surprise my clients with little extra steps and phonecalls that surely they would have paid for, but didnt have to.How can you go the extra mile for your customers (and I do mean mile, not a foot)?Think about that today. Then download my updated version of Success Is Straight In Front Of You andtake action on 3 more things at leasttoday. 15. All Is Not Fair In Internet BusinessOr the 80/20 rule, and who you REALLY have to focus on to succeedAll the sales letters out there paint the rosy picture of the Internet marketing lifestyle, dont they?I am sure that most everyone that reads this article has at one point or another fallen for the carefullycrafted words of an expert copywriterand bought into the illusion.This article contains a strong dose of reality people!If you dont want to see the real truth about Internet business, and want to continue to believe thatthere is some get rich quick, make $23,594 in 60 days program out therekeep searching. All of thesales letters will point you the way.It is that very illusion that will keep feeding you the e-books, courses, and memberships that you willcontinue investing in until you realize there are no shortcuts to businessand eventually you willcome back to this article to get your dose of the hard truth.OnwardI was recently visiting a forum I frequent and found a post where the founder of the forum expressed hisfeelings about some whining taking place by some members in one of the sections within the forum.To sum it all up, people were bitching and moaning about posts getting bumped etc the details reallydo not matter at all.The point is they were investing time bitching about making money with this one idea, instead of justshifting gears and moving on to something else in their business if they were having a problem. Thelesson here is dont put all your eggs in one basket.AndGuess what people? Business isnt a fair and fluffy world for everyone! Get over it!On to another part of this lessonOne of my coaching students was concerned about traffic to his sites. He was concerned becauseseveral of the methods werent working within the article marketing he was doing (which still works bythe way). Almost frantic to the point of over-analyzing why most of his articles were not producing thetraffic he would have liked (clicks to his blog).But, he did produce at least one article that really rocked!I mean seriously masterpiece quality.This is an asset, or the first thing I look for when I have an issue in my business.I look for use-able assets that I can convert into traffic, cash, whatever I need. Since I am a massiveaction taker when it comes to business, I am always in the process of creating these assetsand I donot allow little stuff like why articles are not working get in my way, because they wont if I can justmove on to another asset.(you shouldnt either, if youre creating assets) 16. So I told my coaching student to take what he could from the article that worked, or his asset in thiscase.Obviously, his readership liked what it found in this long article.To datethis article has over 373 views on Ezinearticles.com, 8 ratings, all 5 star ratings, and manypositive comments in only two weeks.If you happen to create an asset like this, find out what you did right, and do it again for Petes sake!Over and over again.Now, dont get me wrong, I am a big proponent of the fail as fast as you can, so you can succeed evenfaster mantra.But you have to decide when enough is enough, learn from your mistakes and move on. InternetBusiness life isnt fair for everyone, and sometimes you might think you are doing the right thinginvesting hours and hours into writing articles or what notBut it doesnt always work that way people!Learn why it didnt work that way and move on as quickly as you can!Now on to the big lesson for todayLets move on to a big secret in business, one that will be hard to swallow for most of you, but I amgoing to reveal it any how right here (I normally charge quite a bit for this kind of advice).At first, it wont sound like any big deal, you have probably heard it a thousand times before, but bearwith meReady?Here it isAbout 80% of your revenue comes from about 20% of your total efforts!On its face, you have probably heard of Paretos Principle. You have probably heard it a thousandtimesbut I bet that most of you have never taken massive action on it before. Honestly, only 20% ofthe people who read this post ever will take action.Here is what I mean:* If you work 40 hours a week on your Internet businessonly 8 of those hours of work are producing80% of your revenue generated. Wouldnt you want to take that piece of advice and give your businessan honest check up from the neck up, to see what 8 hours are producing that revenue, and do more ofit?* If you make $50,000 a year in net profits from your internet business $40,000 of that revenue camefrom only 20% of all of the efforts you put into generating revenue for that Internet business in thatyear. Instead of bitching and whining on some forum about why your posts are getting bumped, why notconcentrate on finding out more about that 20%, and do more of that instead?* Instead of worrying about the 80% of the articles you write that are not generating the traffic youlike, find the 20% that are, and copy that structure of article, topic nature, etc 17. * If you have 100 customers (for the sake of simple math), and you now know that only 20 of them aremaking you 80% of your profits, which customers do you want to spend the most of your time with?And really, that is the big secret here You should spend 80% or more of your valuable time with only 20% of your clients, the 20% who havefollowed your advice in your products, and used your copywriting skills, to make millions of dollarsthemselves. The same 20% who invest in you again and again without question, which quite frankly feed your familyand put a roof over your head. This same 20% doesnt complain about every little thing, because they know that if for some reasonthings dont go right, you will make sure that they doBecause you have created the time to do so by focusing 80% of your time and energy to only 20% ofyour clients.Does that mean that the other 80% of your clients suffer?Absolutely not. They receive polite and courteous attention, and you produce quality work or productsfor them, so they can benefit. They get 100% of you, for the entire 20% of your time you devote tothem.This concept might be a little hard to swallow for you, I understand that.You might be thinking Holy smokes Joe, it sounds like you are asking me to screw over 80% of myclients!But that is far from the truth actually.You see, Paretos Principle can be expressed for this lesson in this way too:80% of your clients really only need 20% of your time!Thats right, about 8 out of every 10 of your clients are only going to use your services for one project,one consultation, buy one affiliate product from your recommendation etc and that is it.That does not require much time at all.But 2 out of 10 clients will invest in your product or service for repeatedly, need multiple consultations,will invest in you for the 80% of the time you devote to them.And those are the clients that keep you in businessPeriod.There is a scary revelation that applies here as wellAbout 80% of all small businesses fail within 5 years.Which also meansAbout 20% of all small businesses succeed after 5 years.Could the 20% who succeed be the same ones that master the art of focusing on their 20%?Are you going to at least start to think about who your 20% is?If you dont, dont call me in 5 years when the money runs out. 18. WellYes And NoYes Yes online marketing is a valid business model Yes it does require that you work hard Yes it requires marketing skill Yes it requires the ability to sell and persuade (not illegally, unethically, or immorally however) Yes it does take some time to build an affiliate marketing business Yes you will have competition in niches that make money Yes you will have to do things better from time to time Yes smart competitors will be watching what you do Yes you could make excuses, whine, or worry about how hard this isand yes you could give it all up.SoCan you do this? Yes.Will you do what it takes?And no No marketing does not create overnight riches. No there is no magic button to fill your bank account with cash. No there arent many untapped niches where you will dominate anymore. No marketing isnt easy. No there are no shortcuts. No you shouldnt try to figure this business out beforehand. No you shouldnt over-analyze opportunities, that will paralyze you. No the Internet isnt some big shiny object anymore, so make money online isnt a new topicanymoreSoNo youre not going to succeed without the right mindsetwill you do what it takes to develop that mindset?If the answer is No, maybe you should keep your day job.Nowwill you share this article with others? Yes, or no? 19. Google Trick? Or Treat?No, Im not writing this on Halloween (thats family time), just thought I would put one in the schedulerfor Halloween.Google seems to be pissing people off, from banning accounts, to creating controversy in the onlinemarketing space and making rules up on the flyif you dont keep up on the latest with Big G, it seemsat least a part of your business could be terminated at any time.Or does it have to be that way at all?Well, the short answer is, it never had to be in the first place.When you try to trick Google, or find shortcuts to game Google, big G will reward you at some pointwith the appropriate treat (i.e. banning your accounts, lowering your falsely obtained search rankings,de-indexing your site altogether etc).But if you simply do the work (thats right, I said work)and create genuine, original content for yoursite that visitors enjoy (not re-hashed and terribly written content), then update that content frequently(i.e. blogging), you will win every time.Getting links you say?The content has to be worth sharing of course, so people link to your site (a lahttp://icanhascheezeburger.com). Thats how you get links the natural way, the way that will NEVER bequestioned by big G.So, do things the right way, and you will get a treattry to game the system or take shortcutsand youllend up getting tricked at some point, every time.Or, you could build a business that doesnt rely on Google at all, but thats another story (perhaps a NewYears Day present).Get to it people. 20. Get RealOver the years, Ive had numerous people ask me if they should quit their jobs and start marketing orcreating a business online.Barring an abnormal circumstance, I tell them to get real.Seriously.Why on earth would you put your future in the hands of anyone else but yourself? In myopinion, you are the only person who can determine if you are cut out to make in the world of homebusiness entrepreneurs. Not everyone can cut it.I mean, it all boils down to you.I understand if this reads as a negative piece, it really isnt intended to be, but I also feel there isntenough counter-discussion out there about what it really takes to make it as an online or offlinebusiness owner.The Internet ebooks paint rosy scenarios of life at the beach with a laptopthe free pre-launch videosall show mansions and Porsches (theyre not free if you value your time at all), the $2000 coursespromise detailed information that will be all you need to succeed online.Heres a million-dollar tip they dont want you to know folks you couldnt possibly assemble every bit of information you need to succeed in business.Why?One of many reasons is by the time you even got close, something changes, and you have to start overagain researching in that particular area.Add that to the fact that at least half of what you would be reading is either worthless or totallyuntested theory, and youre left with a battle that cannot possibly be won.The battle you can win, is the one where youre in control of the battlefieldThis means you just try stuff, you test things, you make a ton of mistakes, you learn from thosemistakes, and over time you win.NOTE: Before I get the email that says Joe, but what if I dont have the money to test, try, and win atmarketing? My answer to that is if you dont want to win bad enough, you probably shouldnt play atall.You gotta do whats best for yourself in the end. But, with that said, when we as humans really want toaccomplish something that we set our minds to, we usually find a way to do it.So get real people, empty your head of empty promises made by some sales letter online, and fill yourhead with your next business planthen execute no matter what stands in your way.I hope you enjoyed this report, but most importantly, I want to see you at the top in 2011.